In August 2026, cold chain packaging manufacturer Hydropac is set to launch its water icepack, HydroPure, featuring an innovative built-in freeze indicator that changes the physical appearance of the pack once it reaches its optimum freeze temperature.
The water ice pack is specifically developed for food manufacturers, meal kit providers, online retailers, and pet food brands as well. The innovative water icepack has been designed to maximize cold chain performance, while also providing environmental, functional, and commercial packaging advantages. The upcoming launch of the brand is timely news for brands, as many review their packaging strategies following the introduction of the UK’s extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation. With the new rules of the packaging industry on how packaging materials are assessed and charged, HydroPure could help reduce packaging disposal costs outlined in the new EPR fee structure.
HydroPure ice packs are designed in black color with optimum heat absorption, as they are designed and engineered as per an icepack’s duty. Hence, the built-in indicator of the pack is unmistakable. As the pack freezes completely, the black color appears to ‘crack’ before turning pure white from the core outward, helpful for the warehouse teams for immediate confirmation that the pack is fully frozen and ready for use. This simple visual packaging cue helps to remove the guesswork from the packaging process and also helps to improve consistency across high-volume fulfillment operations.
HydroPure offers the cold-chain performance brands rely on, without the disposal costs of gel packs. Mentioned below are a few major advantages of the newly introduced innovative ice pack:
Environmental Value- Eliminating gel from the pack removes a refrigerant, which is difficult to recycle and hence ends up in landfill, helping brands to reduce the environmental footprint of their cold chain packaging without any compromise on cooling performance.
Commercial Value- Purified water isn’t stated as chargeable packaging material, similar to gel packaging. HydroPure offers the potential for substantially lower EPR liabilities, a cost that is fast becoming a board-level concern for food, meal kit, and pet food brands as EPR fees scale with packaging volume.
Functional- The innovative pack’s built-in visual freeze indicator helps to eliminate any uncertainty from warehouse operations, giving fulfillment teams immediate, unmistakable confirmation that a pack is fully frozen and also ready to use.
As manufacturers assess the implications of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), packaging composition is becoming an increasingly important commercial consideration. Hydropac has also received written confirmation from Valpak, one of the UK’s largest and longest-established packaging compliance schemes, that water-filled and gel-filled ice packs are reported differently under current EPR requirements.
For a water-filled icepack, only the plastic film is reported as packaging, with the water content excluded. For a gel-filled pack, the plastic film is reported as plastic, and the gel content is reported separately within the “Other” material category. Where the product is classified as household packaging, both these reported weights are hence included in the calculation of EPR waste-disposal fees.
Hydropac's analysis of the current EPR fee structure suggests a standard 500g water ice pack like HydroPure™ could attract disposal fees of around ½ a penny per unit, compared with approximately 14.3p for an equivalent gel pack, because both the plastic film and gel contents are classified as chargeable packaging material.
Based on current fee rates and volume assumptions, this represents an additional disposal cost of approximately 13.75p per gel pack, which could equate to around £13,750 per year for a business handling 50 tonnes of packaging annually, increasing to more than £137,000 at 500 tonnes.
Guidance surrounding some aspects of EPR continues to evolve, and Hydropac is continuing to press the Environment Agency and Defra for explicit product-specific guidance covering coolants and ice packs. Though Valpak’s written advice provides a clear specialist compliance basis for the comparison.
24 August 2026
24 August 2026
24 August 2026
24 August 2026